Newton and the Carolina Panthers have agreed to a four-year, $22 million deal, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. The contract is fully guaranteed, but still: The difference between the old rookie pay scale and the new rookie pay scale means a difference of tens of millions of dollars to Newton’s bottom line.

And although Newton can’t be happy about it, that’s a good thing: The new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and the owners divvies up the salaries differently so that the veterans who have proven themselves get a bigger slice of the pie than the unproven rookies. That’s completely fair.

If Newton turns out to be the great player the Panthers hope he is, his next contract will be enormous, and he’ll have earned every penny of that.

If Newton turns out to be a bust, he’ll still have earned enough money that if he’s smart about it, it will last him several lifetimes. But he won’t be nearly as expensive as busts of the recent past have been. That’s good for the Panthers and good for the NFL.

How fair is it for a rookie that puts up the #’s like Randy Moss, AP, Percy Harvin, Sanchez put up their rookie years. Look at Chris Johnson having to hold out for being underpaid. They needed to have a clause put in if the rookie puts up #’s better than any other player in the league they get more $.

It’ll be interesting to see how this influences future draft picks. Teams with mid-high first round picks may be more willing to gamble on certain players because there isn’t as much money involved.

I still think Carolina made a big mistake taking Newton first overall, but at least it’s only a $22M mistake and won’t cripple the team for years to come when he turns out to be a thoroughly mediocre NFL QB.

Yeah buddy. I’ve had a complete 180 about Cam Newton. Pissed that they were drafting him, then he showed this attitude, this work ethic, the keeping the team together mojo that I can’t help buy like. Now at least if he sucks it’s not a JaMarcus Russell mistake.

You know, this will blow up the trade chart now. Not so bad to have the number 1 pick when you know you don’t have to finance the future to get them under contract. So as the curve was going the other way, teams not wanting to give up as much to move up as before, now it should swing back the other way where you could really load up on picks to drop down. Interesting. We’ll see what the Bengals get offered next year.

“The new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and the owners divvies up the salaries differently so that the veterans who have proven themselves get a bigger slice of the pie than the unproven rookies. That’s completely fair.”